We sat down with Berlin-based artist OST FOX released his debut album Seulement à Marseille this August, featuring eight original tracks that blend techno with dance floor energy. Created during a seven-week stay in Marseille, the album reflects the artist’s immersion in the city’s vibrant music scene and cultural charm. Opening with the bright, house-influenced ‘Vieux Port’, the album progresses through techno-centric tracks like ‘Quartier de Créateurs’ and ‘Le Champ de Mars’, showcasing dynamic synths and intricate rhythms. The cinematic ‘Noailles to Nowhere’ and the atmospheric ‘Metaphore’ add depth, while ‘L’Intermédiair’ explores darker tones and high-energy beats. As the album winds down, “Le Style Marseille” introduces dreamy melodies, concluding with the reflective ‘Réflexions’, which combines nineties’ electronica elements to close the project.
Hello OST FOX, welcome to Doof Doof, where you are writing to us from today. How is life and what’s new in your world?
Thank you for having me Doof Doof team! I am writing to you from a very hot Berlin right now, but this weekend will be fantastic as it is Love Parade weekend here in Berlin (known nowadays as Rave the Planet but I still call it by the original name Love Parade).
Life is good, actually a DJ mate of mine, Confidentially Blonde from the Berlin Kollectiv, Soup, will be premiering one of the new tracks from the album at the Parade, which is very exciting.
We love your debut album Seulement à Marseille over here. Can you share some background context about this incredible project? How did it all come to fruition and what influenced you to make an album project at this stage of your career?
Appreciate the kind words! The project came from a completely random encounter when I was speaking to a Tattoo artist after a gig one night from Marseille. For whatever reason, the city sort of stuck in the back of my mind for almost a year. I knew after releasing a few singles and an EP I wanted to do a full LP and I decided to just go do it in Marseille on a “gut instinct”. I knew it was going to be quite an undertaking and a big step up from just a single or EP so I basically used all of my time off from my part time Engineering job, and took 7 weeks to just focus on the album, which absolutely was the right decision. The concept of making albums with a theme or concept, is much more compelling to me nowadays versus just putting out singles or an ep with 1-2 tracks and a remix (nothing wrong with that btw).
You’re living in Berlin but a native of the US, how did you make the transition to the German capital and vital electronic music hub and what are your roots in the states?
Through pain and suffering, aka learning German haha. That was step one, was learning German, although you can get by without learning it if you live in Berlin, but I wanted to make an effort to learn the language.
I was very fortunate early on because I joined an 8 person WG (flat share) and one of the 8, Alican, became one of my best mates and he was extremely knowledgeable about the club scene here and electronic music. So in part this whole journey is his fault haha (kidding). Having someone show and explore the scene was so damn fun, and we both began quickly dabbling with DJing, throwing raves, etc… and that then transitioned into producing my own music so I could play Live, which was always the dream since first discovering the world of electronic music.
My roots from the states are a bit all over the place…born outside of NYC in NJ, spent time in Houston Tx, Austin Tx, and then back to NYC. I definitely feel more home on this side of the pond though.
What does your studio set up look like, did you take equipment with you to Marseille for this project or you work mainly in a DAW?
My studio is actually in an old DDR building on the outskirts of Berlin and the entire building is for musicians. Inside my studio, I have a nice mix of analog equipment and software (Ableton is my DAW).
For Marseille I took my laptop with Albleton of course, a sound card, the Volca Keys, a few guitar pedals, and then I ended up buying an Arturia Drumbrute from this really small, awesome music shop in Marseille. So quite a minimal setup. I also purchased rolls of large paper and decorated the walls with them so I could write ideas on the album, tracks, etc. It kind of looked like one of those serial killer tracker rooms, where they have yarns, dots, pictures for finding the killer haha.
What have you been listening to lately?
A lot of Japanese music actually, but that is also because I have been learning Japanese for the past few months. Very little if any electronic music at the moment. To be honest I don’t listen to it that often anymore because I am producing and playing/practicing my electronic music so often. I am also going through another big Thee Oh Sees phase, one of my favorite bands that just came to Berlin. 10/10 band. Their amps go to an 11.
What does the future hold for OST FOX, any other major projects you’re planning or anything else you can share with us for your upcoming plans?
Some really exciting things actually. I have been working on my live sets for upcoming shows this fall and winter. Work has begun on a second album (just the very early stages). This one will most likely be much harder and faster.
So far I have about 3 months of ideas, sounds, synths, etc for it. I am itching to start work on it, but there is a lot to figure out. As mentioned above, I have also been learning Japanese because the 3rd full album will be recorded with 10 Japanese artists in 10 prefectures in Japan. Most likely in a 1.5 years time so that I can get my Japanese to a level where I can converse with the other artists fluently.
Lastly, outside of music can you recommend something that’s caught your attention lately?
Lately I have been really into cycling in the countryside and going to our open air cinema quite often. We recently saw the move Love, Lies, and Bleeding, which I highly recommend.
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